Audio Circular Economy
In order to understand the circular economy, it is important to know that there is also a linear economy. The linear economy simply is the process of manufacturing a product and after it has been used it gets discarded. As everyone knows, this is extremely bad for our environment since the product gets burnt which causes a lot of co2 emissions and the product is destroyed. This is very bad for our planet and therefore we needed a new solution.
Therefore, the circular economy has been created.
The whole idea of the circular economy is that the live of the product never ends. The customer should use the product for as long as he possibly can and after he can’t use it anymore the parts of the product will be recycled to something new. That this is fully possible the whole process has to start at the production. The product must be produced in a way that the materials can be separated from each other so that they can be fully recycled in the end. This means that the whole idea of the circular economy only works if the producer and the customer both do their part.
The 6 important R's that help to safe resources
Each word starting with the letter R in the picture above can help us to safe resources.
Below you will find the explanations of the 6 R's and also and example what you could do to do something good for our planet:
Rethink = Try to think carefully if you really need this item before buying it. This way you will make less of useless purchases which helps the environment and additionally you save some money
Refuse = You may decline to take the things which you don’t essentially need and which cause waste. For example: a plastic drinking straw is never necessary. So just by declining less plastic will be used.
Reduce = You should try to reduce the things that you use or consume. For example: Try not to use your car too often or don’t buy new things which you don’t necessarily need.
Reuse = You should use stuff again. For example: Instead of throwing something you don’t want any more away you could ask your neighbor if he could use it.
Repair = You could try to fix broken things instead of just buying a new one. This saves way more resources than just creating a new product.
Recycle = Dispose the things you don’t need correctly so that they can be recycled again. In order to fully recycle a product it must be possible to separate the materials from each other. This has to happen in the production.
Is circular Economy the best way to safe resources?
Coming back to our question which we mentioned in the title. We believe that circular economy is definitely the best way to safe resources but it only works if we all try our best to do that. One person cannot make circular economy work but together we can. Therefore, everyone of us can immediately start doing that just by trying to bring the 6 R's into their lives. In our opinion, circular economy is a great idea and hopefully we all can save a lot of resources together.
Multiple Choice question: Which are the correct 6 R's?
A: Rethink, Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle
B: Rethink, repurchase, refuse, reduse, reuse, recycle
C: Rethink, refuse, reduce, replace, repair, recycle
Vocabulary
Rethink = überdenken
Refuse = ablehnen
Reduce = reduzieren
Reuse = wiederverwenden
Repair = reparieren
Recycle = wiederverwerten
Circular economy = Kreislaufwirtschaft
Linear economy = Lineare Wirtschaft
Sources
Blog about the 6 R's (Zero Waste), circular economy (Sway Office)
Powerpoint
circular economy .pptx (5.99 mb)
Team
Lucas & Sandro